Comparative Religion
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Blain Auer
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Assistant Professor
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Education
Ph.D. Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University, 2009
M.A. Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University, 2004
M.A. South Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1999
B.A. South Asian Languages and Literature, University of California-Berkeley, 1991
Research
Dr. Auer's general study is on the religious, cultural, and historical dimensions of Islamicate societies. He specializes in Islam in the context of pre-modern South Asia. In particular, he studies the representations of Islamic authority exhibited through the use of the Qur'an, Hadith, exegesis, and history writing produced during the Delhi Sultanate. A second area of research focuses on modern ritual, pilgrimage, and relics connected with the burial places of the special dead in Islam.
Publications
Articles
"Concepts of Justice and the Catalogue of Punishments under the Sultans of Delhi (7th–8th/13h–14th Centuries)." In Public Violence in Islamic Societies: Power, Discipline, and the Construction of the Public Sphere, 7th—19th Centuries CE, edited by Maribel Fierro and Christian Lange, 238-55. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009.
"Intersections between Sufism and Power: Narrating the Shaykhs and Sultans of Northern India, 1200-1400 C.E." in Erik S. Ohlander/John J. Curry (eds.), The Nexus of Sufism and Society: Arrangements of the Mystical in the Muslim World, 1200-1800 C.E., Routledge, (forthcoming).
"Persian Historiography in India," Ehsan Yarshater/Charles Melville (eds.), Persian Historiography, Palgrave Macmillan, (forthcoming).
Encyclopedia Entries
The Encyclopedia of Islam in the United States. Edited by Jocelyne Cesari. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2007. "Allah," "Islamic Calendar," "Eid al-Adha," "Eid al-Fitr," "Fasting," "Hijra," "Kashmir," "Pilgrimage," "Qawwali Music," "Tariq Ramadan," "Sacrifice."
Teaching
Dr. Auer teaches Religion 3070: The Islamic Tradition. He also offers courses on the topics of Islam, Colonialism, and Nationalism; The Friends of God: Islamic Mysticism; The Qur'an; and Conquest and Cultural Contact: Islamic Identity in the Interaction of Cultures.
REL 3070: The Islamic Tradition Syllabus
REL 5000: Islamic Identities: Colonialism, Nationalism, and Modernity Syllabus